Should you go first, and I remainOne thing I'll have
you do.Walk slowly down that long, long roadFor soon
I'll follow you.

I want to know each step you takeSo I may take the
same.For someday down that long, long rowYou'll hear
me call your name.

Blanche Baranosky

--*--

Love,

like a flower

cannot exist

in a dry,

hard-soiled

clay pot.

It's struggle for life,

the survival instinct,

prohibits

new growth.

Turning on itself,

as if to say it's parts

are the reason for the harsh elements,

one leaf

at a time

dies.

No longer resembling a flower-

naked, alone, self-rejected.

With only a hope of water,

It stands.

--*--

Key

By Craig Owens

The man sits there waiting to be noticed,

Finally she opens the door to eternity,

Take this chance for new hopes and memories,

Here is the key to my world.

So come with me and see what I mean,

I promise that you will be pleased.

--*--

As the darkness grows and

the clouds begin to cover

the stars.

The trees begin to sway in the wind.

What then, as the thughts

begin to creep thru your mind.

The thughts you have run from,

hidden away in the back of your mind.

What then?

How do you run now, when

the darkness decends and the lights

grow dim.

There is nowhere to turn.

What then?

Brenda Bowman

--*--

Last Moon Of Summer

Again,

the heart that is the moon,

rises above

the cool shadows

of a summer's sunset.

I look with my eyes,

but see

with my heart.

It illuminates my soul,

to expose the

pain of poetry.

8 / 28 / 93

--*--

PROMISE

Promise yourself that you will care,

be gentle and giving, that you will share.

Promise yourself that you'll forgive,

help others along, live and let live.

Promise yourself that you'll follow your dreams, no
matter how hard or difficult it seems.

And if you do follow the words above,

you'll find peace and joy, you'll share in the love.

But most of all when you are through,

you'll find the PROMISE inside of you.

--*--

LULLABY

I SAW A BOY PULLED OUT TO SEA

HE SEEMED SO STRANGELY CALM

AS IF HE'D HEARD HIS MOTHER'S VOICE

CALLING...CALLING

SHE LIVES BEYOND THE CLASP OF TIME

FOR HIDDEN IN HER CHEST

ARE THOUSANDS WHO HAVE HEARD HER CALL

AND NOW ARE LAID TO REST

BENEATH HER VIOLET LULLABY

BENEATH HER VEIL OF FOAM

WHENCE WE CAME SO SHALL WE GO

THE SEA RECLAIMS HER OWN

COPYRIGHT 1996 MELA BUTCHER

--*--

Feelings

I take it unjustly

thinking it's free

Little do I know

it has its rewards and penalties

I wonder WHY?

Please if possible can I get a response to this poem.
Also you can check out more poetry by The Natural at the Live
Poet Society site.

by: The Natural

Copyright (c) Cactus League Production, Inc. 1996

Updated April 7, 1996

--*--

life is fineif you don't mindsunshine mixed with
rain

life is finef you don't mindlosses mixed with
gain

life is fine if you don't mindecstasy with
grief

--*--

SPELLBOUND

Without wordsOr incantations,you cast your
spell,

Mesmerizing me,Captivating my heart.

I was becharmedby the gentleness in your
eyes.

I melted in the warmth of your embrace; I fell
hopelessly in loveafter our first kiss;I am forver in
your power.

--*--

If indeed God's love is in me

I'll look to Him for all my needs

He teaches me how not to be

Full of hatred, lust, and greed

Bilieve in Christ and you'll soon see

Everything's possible through God's Holy seed Earthly
temptations bring those to their knees In search of
forgiveness by God's only means How do I know through prayer
I'm appeased Christ loved me so much He gave His life on the
tree.

Kim Laffey December 3,1995

--*--

Lies, lies, lies

I gave myself a lie-

and so my mind must die.

For all my life I lived a lie

when love itself had died.

So now I sit and cry-

for there is not a sky,

for one as me who lonely be

had learned to love a lie.

--*--

A day and it passes.

The rising of the sun,

it seems, and yet

it is not but the moon,

ever so bright in its darkness.

And so I wait,

again eternally?

No.

Yet close;

--*--

I once wrote a song, but I don't know how to write
music.

So everytime I turn on the radio and listen to a song, I
think to myself: 'Hey, I might've written that!'

--*--

Some Peopleby Scott Cannon March 29 1996

Some people give

Some people die

Some people live

Some people cry

Some people are for others

Some people die for their brothers

Some people sin

Some people grin

Some people love

Some people hate

Some people look to the sky above

Some people hesitate

I am only one of these people

Some people are chained down

Some people are free

And one of those people are me.

--*--

HEARTS ON FIRE

We met----

We felt sparks

in the embers of our hearts;

Our kisses made our hearts warmer yet.

We made love----

fullfilling our desires of passion;

Our hearts are on fire!

With each kiss, touch

the falmes burn higher!

Hearts on fire

burning with desire;

Yearning, feeling.

A flame that can't

be tamed.

Hearts on fire

will never me the same.

--*--

"Cancer"

By Karl Knapp

I see you coming, like a raging bull. My heart's
surrendered, with thoughts you stole. Grimace in pain, with
the chains that bind you.

Walking away, from the thieves that find you.Into your
house, you enter alone.Realizing not,that you haven't gone
home.A knock at your door, you will not answer.Sending your
butler,you are the cancer.

Eating away, at the body of life.Put the ring on the
finger,of the Devils' wife!

--*--

Translated from the Yiddish by Murray Wolfe
Originally published in Partisan Review 1989 Vol
LVI Issue 1

***

The Wonder happened so naturally:

a poet submerged in a sea--seeking

pearls, shivering and yearning motionlessly.

And with the slightest kiss for the first pearl, his
limbs disappeared,